Letter 358: Theodore Studite, Letter 358; Greek heading: Ναυκρατίῳ τέκνῳ.

When I learned that you had recovered, beloved, even if not completely, from the most grievous illness with which you wrestled, I gave thanks to the Lord. Now sickness is a training-ground of the soul, brought upon us to our benefit by God who governs our affairs, and we ought to be well pleased with it; for, as Scripture says, when I am weak, then am I strong [2 Cor. 12:10]. So much, then, for that matter. But what of the madness of the wretched Leontios against us, who so excessively crushes the brethren and, without any visible shedding of blood, drains their blood by the wasting away of their flesh? Yet this is so that the word of the Lord may be fulfilled, that a man's enemies are the members of his own household [Matt. 10:36]; for was not He Himself betrayed unto death by His own disciple? See, then, to whom those who contend are likened, namely to Christ the first martyr [protomartyr, here Christ as the archetypal witness]; and whom the punisher resembles, namely not only Judas of evil mind, but also Pilate and Caiaphas, the slayers of God [theoktonoi]. The present circumstances have followed upon what came before for the terrible Leontios, as you know, passing from the Moechian heresy [moicheianismos, the schism over the adulterous remarriage of Constantine VI] to icon-fighting [eikonomachia], or rather to fighting against Christ [christomachia]; and he has gone so far into impiety toward the ruler [kratountos] as he approaches him even in the resemblance of his name; for Leo is the principal name, but Leontios is the derivative, as flame is from fire and the goad from iron. But the Lord is near to those who endure for Him, and He will shatter the goad and grind fine even the iron. Therefore let us not lose heart in our sufferings, brother, knowing that long-suffering is the work of proving, and a multiplying of crowns comes to all who love God, just as it did of old and from the beginning to the saints. Let time, then, run its course; let the martyrs be multiplied; let the unalloyed gold be tested; for one who has not been purified, who does not demonstrate the proof of his faith through sufficient firings, would not be acceptable to God the refiner of gold. As for Euprepianos, that it is so grieves me, sinner that I am; nevertheless we must pray concerning his affairs. It is not as you suppose, this I too know, concerning the matters about which you asked; nevertheless, because such persons are secret saints [kryptagioi], always wearing white outwardly, even if inwardly they are grey-clad as monks or nuns. For this is a manner of dispensation [oikonomia, the prudent accommodation of strict rule to circumstance], that which is distinguished from hypocrisy, namely to alter for a little while, both in time and place, one's outward form and habit and manner of life, but not forever. Of the first of these the holy Abramios is the agent, of the second the holy David, and of the third the holy Peter. Of two evils, then, that lie before one, a fall and a limping, the lighter is to be chosen, that is, the second; for it is more profitable to be a hidden monk and to have no share in impiety by reason of an inability put forward as a pretext, than to become an apostate altogether. Concerning that which you said, through the mouth of the letter-bearer, that the eighth chapter is deficient because it lies under a canon of the holy Peter: I was unaware of it. Let the canon prevail; for who am I, wretched man, to legislate against it? Only that I spoke by way of counsel, both in the other chapters and in those which you have just inquired about, and in those concerning which, when asked by others, I gave answer, not in a canonical manner, not in a legislative manner, so far as is openly evident toward those outside, since it is neither lawful nor within my authority; for I am a priest, though unworthy, not a hierarch; for it belongs to such a one, and to those of equal rank with him, to set canons and to legislate universally.